If you woke up this morning and thought, “What’s going on in Smithtown, New York, today is your day!
For example, March 28th was “Pet Photos with the Easter Bunny” day at the Smith Haven Mall!
Take a spin class at the Mid-Island Jewish Community Center, Tuesday's at 4:30!
Classes are virtual.
After your spin you can go to the locally owned Sal’s Ristorante and Bar and pick-up your dinner curbside. I suggest the lasagna which Long Island’s hometown newspaper Newsday called, “One of Long Island’s top ten!”
It’s a big island! That’s a flex!
I’m on the Highway to Hell
Stamford, Connecticut and Smithtown are two cities separated by two-hours of driving hell.
On the good days!
The section of route 95 through Stamford is the stretch of highway you should envision when you hear about our country’s deteriorating infrastructure. Pass through two of New York’s five boroughs, THE Bronx and Queens and if your kidneys and patience are still in tact, you get on the Long Island Expressway and east towards Smithtown.
The “LIE” as locals call it, is the second most congested highway in the country behind the 405 freeway in Los Angeles.
The 66-miles from Stamford to Smithtown would take two to four hours. A long way to go to visit a town where one of the “top-ten things to do in Smithtown” is visit the Statue of Whisper the Bull.
A TripAdvisor review from February details that experience. “By far, the most impressive anatomically correct bronze bull statue in all of Long Island or at least Smithtown. Come by in spring time and see if the graduating seniors have painted the testicles for this year’s senior prank.”
Sounds fun but still, I’ve never been to Smithtown.
None-the-less I find myself an expert on the city of 116,000. Because the best radio station available in Stamford currently is Smithtown’s WWSK, the Shark!
I guess the radio waves don’t take the LIE!
Taking the direct route across the Long Island Sound from Smithtown Bay to the shores of Stamford, the Shark's 2600-watt transmission offers an outstanding blend of all genres of rock.
Of course with all that great rock-n-roll, I also get Smithtown’s local news and information.
And advertising.
Recently, when it became wise to reward my fiancée Gaetana with a gift for her patience, I ended up on the web site of Bunty’s Jewelry. A 30-year locally Smithtown retailer.
And regular advertiser on THE Shark!
Who had a website which offered shipping. Making Bunty’s as easy for me to deal with as a similar retailer in Stamford. Perhaps easier.
In the end, Bunty’s didn’t get the sale, which instead went to a five-generation locally-owned jewelry store right here in Fairfield County. Still, the Bunty’s web site created an opportunity for that store. Enough of those opportunities and mathematics ensures; sales will follow.
Revenue! From consumer who a would never know that a web-less Bunty’s even existed.
Paint dealers can make those same opportunities. The opportunity to make sales to consumers who right now due to distance or your proximity to their typical paths, do not even know you exist!
Waves Travel Far
When I installed my Revolution web and e-commerce package for Andriots.com, we included three shipping options for consumers: pick-up in-store, pick-up at curb and local delivery using Andriot’s own vehicles.
Andriot’s has since added UPS Ground and 3-Day Select services.
When I noticed the additional shipping options, while taking a tour around their site, curiosity overtook me. I clicked to Andriot’s administrative panel and found that five of Andriot’s last six sales were to consumers over two-hours from their store in Shelbyville, Kentucky.
And those were just the sales which ran through the site! Owner BJ Andriot told me that there were additional sales where the consumers came to know Andriot’s through their web site, though the sales were ultimately completed over the phone.
Tapping markets where without a web site, consumers wouldn’t even know they existed.
